North Vancouver, BC – The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation remains concerned that the issues put forward to the provincial government for actions to address our ongoing funding and governance challenges regarding TransLink have not been met with sufficient support from the provincial government.
On March 15, the Council forwarded its summary concerns and requests relating to both short-term and long-term funding, external review and governance for action to the provincial government, seeking its support. On April 10, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister, Blair Lekstrom, responded to those requests in writing, outlining what the province was prepared to do – and not prepared to do – in addressing the mayors’ requests for action.
"While we appreciate the Minister’s ongoing willingness to directly engage on these issues, we were hoping for some very specific and positive responses to help the region’s collective efforts to better serve the public transportation system’s efforts to serve a rapidly growing region,” said Mayor Richard Walton, Chair of the Mayors Council for Regional Transportation.
At a meeting of the Mayors’ Council on April 10th, four separate resolutions were passed in an effort to further highlight our concerns to the provincial government.
The first motion reconfirms the mayors’ opposition to any further use of property tax as a funding source for future transportation projects, and acknowledged that the mayors need more time to reflect on all aspects of the Minister’s letter.
The second motion reflects the mayors’ position that the governance changes proposed by the Minister did not go far enough and asks that the Provincial Auditor General be asked to do an in-depth review of the efficacy of TransLink’s governance model.
The third motion recognizes the mayors feel that in light of the TransLink Commissioner’s March 2012 Efficiency Review of TransLink, another audit of TransLink is not required. If the Province does follow through with its “in-depth efficiency audit”, the audit should be done by the independent office of the Provincial Auditor General .
The final motion calls for the two-year, $30 million in property tax funding for TransLink’s latest expansion plans to be cancelled, until alternative funding sources are determined.
The Mayors’ Council will respond in detail to the Minister’s suggestions within the next several weeks.
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